What to consider

Some important considerations — courtesy of Columbus-area event planner Emilie Duncan and the
American Kennel Club’s Lisa Peterson — when deciding whether to include your dog in your
wedding:

• The dog’s temperament. Is he capable of calming himself in front of a large crowd
and for a photo shoot? Or is he a jumper? You don’t want to put your pet in a situation you know it
can’t handle.
• Your vendors. Are the wedding venue, your photographer and the hotel all
pet-friendly? You should make sure in advance.
• The weather forecast. Even the most well-trained dog will find mud if it
rains.
• Your guests. Invitees should know that a dog is in the plans. You don’t want
people with dog allergies sneezing throughout the ceremony or guests who might fear dogs feeling
intimidated.
• A dog handler. Someone other than a member of the bridal party should be
designated to care for the dog during the ceremony, when you can’t.
• A pet sitter. If Fido is in, you should make arrangements to have the dog
picked up after his wedding services are complete. That way, you can enjoy the reception without
worry.

The 2-year-old German shepherd-Labrador retriever mix let out a soft yelp just after the wedding officiant said the words “For after these vows, you shall say to the world: ‘This is my husband. This is my wife.’ ”

As if giving his blessing to owners Ashley Purdy and Zach DeLeonardis, the canine (and his commentary) elicited a collective “Aw!” from many of the couple’s guests last month at the Bluestone.

The couple, both engineers who live Downtown, are among a growing number choosing to incorporate four-legged loved ones into wedding preparations or nuptials.

“We wouldn’t consider not having him,” DeLeonardis, 25, said before he and Purdy tied the knot on May 24 at the Discovery District venue. “We know he can sit there quiet for a few hours. Plus, he’s our family.”

“And he’s very photogenic,” added Purdy, also 25.

Murphy, whose gray bow tie matched the groom’s tuxedo, was identified in the wedding program as the ring bearer (a paw print next to his name). He walked down the aisle with Mahala Mullen, one of six bridesmaids dressed in pink chiffon.

And just before his bride made her entrance, DeLeonardis leaned down to kiss Murphy on the head.

Whether including their dogs in engagement photos or flying them across the country for a destination ceremony, brides- and grooms-to-be are making room for Fido in ways big and small, said Lisa Peterson, spokeswoman for the American Kennel Club.

“More households in the U.S. have pets than children now,” said Peterson, citing a survey from the American Pet Products Association. “It makes perfect sense that couples would want to include their pets.”

A survey released in 2006 by the club found that 18 percent of dog owners had included or wouldn’t hesitate to include their dog in their wedding — a figure that Peterson and others suspect has only risen since then.

“That feeling you get from a dog,” Peterson said, “you want to bring that into your wedding.”

Powell wedding planner Emilie Duncan estimates that one in five of the couples she works with nowadays chooses to involve a dog.

“People are doing things to make their weddings not such a cookie-cutter event,” Duncan said. “They want the wedding to reflect who they are as a couple.”

Author and photographer Katie Preston Toepfer — who lives in Sydney, Australia — details the trend in words and pictures in the 2013 book Wedding Dogs: A Celebration of Holy Muttrimony.

Preston Toepfer said via email that dogs in weddings have become mainstream because people are living differently from how they did a decade or two ago.

“People are having children later in life, so they often get a dog first, and this dog becomes like their first child,” she said. “People are also getting married after living together for some time, too. During this process, many people get a dog — which becomes an important part of the family unit well before marriage.”

Some celebrities have contributed to the trend.

Former talk-show host Ricki Lake, for example, included both her goldendoodle and English bulldog in her 2012 wedding. The same year, Priscilla Chan, bride of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, walked down the aisle with the couple’s dog, a Hungarian sheepdog named Beast.

Wedding photographer Adam Lowe said that including a dog in a ceremony is akin to including a best friend or sibling.

“We completely love our animals,” Lowe said. “We spend a lot of time with them. It’s just like adding to your wedding party. It’s made up of your family and best friends. Why not have pets?”

Which is why, when he married Claire Coughlin two years ago outside the Via Vecchia Winery in the Brewery District, their Boston terrier, Mochi, was at their feet.

After Mochi had accompanied Lowe down the “aisle,” she relaxed on the ground, chewing on rocks and looking pretty in the pink flower around her neck.

“It was this really cool moment,” said Lowe, 37.

Some dogs are called upon even before the big day arrives.

Gahanna resident Ryan Bailey tapped the services of two whippets, Willow and Woody, in proposing to Anna McDougal on Easter in 2012.

He gave them each a plastic egg — one holding a ring wrapped in a paper towel and the other with a note that read, “Will you marry me?” — and told the dogs to take them to “Mommy.”

And the dogs were on hand five months later when the couple wed in a small ceremony at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, Ohio. (They did not, however, travel to the destination wedding that took place later in the Dominican Republic.)

“We thought it would be something fun to do,” said Mr. Bailey, 28. “Our dogs go wherever we go.”

“We’re crazy dog parents,” added his wife, also 28.

Woody walked Mrs. Bailey down the aisle — “He’s a mama’s dog,” she said — and her husband made an entrance with Willow.

The pets were well-behaved except when the newlyweds left the dogs in the care of relatives while posing for post-ceremony photos. The whippets slipped out of their new collars and took off running — but only to see what “Mom and Dad” were up to without them.

Just before their wedding in April, Angela Kulis and Scott Gurwin invited their 2-year-old boxer, Mirko, to a photo session at the Hilton Polaris.

“He’s an important part of our family,” said Mrs. Gurwin, 29, a Westerville resident who works for a mortgage company. “We do everything with him.

“It didn’t seem right to not have him in at least some of the photos.”

Mr. Gurwin had proposed while he and Angela were walking the dog at Blendon Woods Metro Park, and Mirko — wearing a mini-chalkboard that read “April 26, 2014” — appeared in the save-the-date announcements they sent out.

The couple chose not to include the dog in the ceremony, they said, because he can become overly excited in large crowds.

In some circumstances, the event planner Duncan noted, logistics don’t allow for a dog at a wedding. Many churches, for example, prohibit pets inside.

The Bluestone, like the half-dozen other wedding venues that Purdy and DeLeonardis considered, welcomed the chance to work with a four-legged bridal party member — as did the couple’s relatives and friends.

“Some people said, ‘You’re really going to have your dog in your wedding?’ ” Purdy recalled. “But people who know us were like, ‘Murphy’s going to be there, right?’ ”

The dog’s participation did require some work: DeLeonardis gave Murphy a bath the day before; and, on the morning of the wedding, Purdy trimmed his paw hairs, cut his nails and brushed his teeth.

The couple packed plenty of Murphy’s favorite treats and arranged for a friend to pick him up before the reception began.